Waste prevention in Europe: policies, status and trends in reuse in 2017
The EEA report ‘Waste prevention in Europe – policies, status and trends of reuse in 2017’ reviews measures to promote the reuse of products in European countries and regions. Reusing products means using them again for their original purpose, hence retaining more of the products’ value, compared with, for example, recycling the product for raw materials. The report shows that 18 of the 33 reviewed waste prevention programmes have explicit objectives for the reuse of products. However, most frequently cited measures to promote reuse are voluntary. Only 10% of the programmes include regulatory measures and 8% cite economic instruments. Moreover, only two of the reviewed waste prevention programmes have quantitative targets for reuse.